Apple is running the back to school event currently and offering free AirPods which they do every year around this time. I assume the Universities will be honoring this promotion too. I know daughter’s schools are.
The M1 is not available in the Air currently.
All the devices are great but we’re running iOS 15, iPad 15, tvOS 15, and Mac OS Monterey betas currently and some of the new features won’t be available for non M1 devices.